Читать книгу Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell - Страница 50

Online orders: 2

Orders found: 2

The first customer of the day:

Customer: Do you have a book called Sports Car Racing 1958 to 1959?

Me: Probably not, but you’re welcome to have a look in the transport section.

Customer: Ah, but I bet you’ve got a special collection of things like that which you don’t put on show.

It’s astonishing how often customers clearly think that we have the book they’re after but—for reasons best known to them alone—we have decided that we don’t want to sell it to them. Shortly after I bought the shop, I remember John Carter telling me about an acquaintance of his in the trade who was bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t understand why he had £100,000 worth of stock but never seemed to make any money. With his typical pragmatic wisdom John replied, ‘You don’t want £100,000 worth of stock, you want £100,000 instead.’

A family of five came in at 3 p.m. The children mauled and pawed their way through the books in the antiquarian section in front of their parents before the father spotted the notice requesting that customers handle the books carefully, read it out loud, then finally told them to stop. It’s extraordinary that thought didn’t enter his head until he’d read the notice. I wonder if he has ‘Remember To Breathe’ etched onto the inside of the lenses of his glasses.

Supper cooked by Emily: vegetarian curry. I’m starting to crave flesh.

Till Total £273

6 Customers